Get Your Idea to Market WITHOUT an Invention Submission Firm

Did you know you don't need to use an Invention Submission Firm to show your ideas to manufacturers?

Our guest blogger Roger Brown is a freelance Inventor who has successfully marketed tools, toys and a kitchen utensil without the aid of an Invention Submission Firm. You can see some of his inventions at rogerbrown.net. He graciously agreed to share with readers of InventorSpot.com some valuable advice.

Here's his article:

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You Can Get an Idea to Market Without an Invention Submission Firm

One of the questions I am constantly asked is how I got my inventions to market and how much did it cost me. They are extremely surprised when I tell them it cost me less than $100 and I did it without the aid of the rip-off Invention Submission Firms. I am not saying they are all rip-offs. I am referring only to the Invention Submission Firms that put Inventors in major debt, second mortgaging their homes or using their life's savings and all they get for their effort is a worthless evaluation and no company interested in marketing their idea. Even though they were told that a company was very interested, which prompted them to go forward with this scam to begin with.

Invention: Pizza ScissorsThere is a growing list of companies that Inventors can approach themselves without having to go through an Invention Submission Firm. You don't have to have a patent and you don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get your idea in front of them.

I know what I am telling you goes against everything the Invention Submission Firms push, but it's true. They don't want you to know about the companies you can approach yourself. If you do it yourself, they can't bleed you dry.

I actively looked online for companies that list that they look at outside ideas from Inventors. I also go into stores looking for contact information on products so that I can contact that company. You would be surprised how many are open to reviewing ideas without a patent, but don't advertise it. The companies that licensed my ideas all paid for the patent out of their pocket, not mine, in order to protect their investment. I get a royalty based on the sales of each item. You can see them at http://www.rogerbrown.net

Invention: Knockout HockeyThis is done using only a nondisclosure form prior to the review of my ideas. I have listed a couple of companies below that are Inventor friendly and you can submit ideas directly to them. The only thing you need to do is fill out a nondisclosure first, which is free. I will stress that even though they look at ideas directly you need to make sure your submission is as professional as possible. Don't send them things on napkins or notebook paper and think "Hey, they can figure it out". That is not their job; it's yours to send a concise, to the point submission promoting the benefits of your idea.

Inventors need to take matters into their own hands and start actively looking for companies they can approach without paying someone else to do it. Just to give you an example of what can happen to you if you blindly follow an Invention Submission Firm. I know of an Inventor that paid approximately $6,000 to a Invention Submission Firm that said they had contacts with Black and Decker and they knew B&D would be interested in his tool idea. Look at the list below and the link for Black and Decker.

He paid approximately $6,000 for them to do a patent search, fill out a one page submission form and send a cover letter.

He could have done the patent search online at the United States Patent Office, and mailed the form himself for 37 cents had he known about their openness to Inventors. B&D passed on his invention. So, he is out $6,000 and still looking for someone to license his idea. Using my method, I would be out 37 cents and moving on to the next company I had in mind.

Invention: Power Pitch Horseshoes Quit being lemmings and take control of your inventions. Inventors are very creative people, but for some reason they don't use that same creativity to find companies waiting for ideas. Put the same passion for your idea into finding a home for it. Below are a couple of companies that are Inventor friendly to get you started.

If you find other companies that are Inventor friendly, send them to this website InventorSpot.com so a listing can be developed for everyone to profit from. Remember, the more that get listed here, theless the bad Invention Submission Firms will be used.

Here is my definition of what an Inventor friendly company is:

The company looks at ideas directly from Inventors, not through a Broker or Invention Submission Firm.

You don't have to have a patent first before submitting your idea.

They do not look at ideas without a signed nondisclosure first.

They pay a royalty percentage based on the sale of the item.

They send you a quarterly accounting sheet of the sales

You DO NOT have to pay them any fees to review your ideas.

If your company contact meets this criteria send it to us or leave a comment here.

I have loads of ideas and not enough time or money to pursue them all. Your approach sounds excellent and if you're willing I have a few ideas I could run past you for comment. I have particular experience of the UK market incidentally incase there's anyone else out there looking to expand overseas.

I appreciate your willingness to send me ideas for review, but I have to
decline that offer for a couple of reasons. One, I don't want to get deluged
by everyone else reading this reply wanting me to review their ideas too. It
wouldn't be fair to only review yours and turn down everyone else. That
would turn into a full time job and since I wouldn't be charging a fee for
this I would be working full time for nothing. Which would take away from my
own inventing.
Second, if you take my advice from the article you should be able to get
started yourself. You mentioned that you don't have time or money. I
understand the money issue, if you are really interested in getting your
ideas to market you will have to find the TIME. Otherwise you are doing
exactly what the invention marketing firms are hoping, looking for someone
else to handle it.
Pick three ideas that you think have the best potential for getting to
market, not he ones you want to get to market. Be realistic in your
evaluation of your ideas. Put your focus on those three and find what
company you would approach with those ideas and give it a shot.
You mentioned having contacts in the UK. I am not familiar with that market
or the stores you may have access to in England. So, you will have to pick
them according to the consumers they target. If you are approaching American
companies follow the advice form the article to run down their contact info.
I am working on a book that goes into more detail on how my method works and
the Pros and Cons of approaching companies yourself. Once I have a publisher
I will post it here so that everyone who wants a copy will be able to get
it. I will also post excerpts from the book here if they will allow it.

Great article you have here! Wanted to find out which of your products was submitted to Rubbermaid and brought to market? Also, can you describe a little more in detail how the compensation works, timelines?

make a small sticker, small enough to put on a driver license or wallet, that has an alarm in it. nothing fancy- just something that will beep really loudly... and a remote-control type thing to mount on a wall or something that, when you press the corresponding button for your wallet, makes the wallet beep. i mean, we all call our cellphones when we lose them in order to find them- why shouldn't that work for other stuff?
even if you wanted to do it cell-phone style and be able to call a certain pin-number from your cellphone- then you would only have to keep track of the numbers for your stuff. just stick the numbers on your refridgerator or in your organizer.

I have a few ideas but I have hit a road block with all of them, right now iam willing to do anything i will even give more than half of my royalties if some one could help me get over this hump. I can be reahced at clarke301@hotmail.com 301-213-8842 Mr clarke

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